Whassup DAFWA? Spatial data in the Department of Agriculture
and Food WA February 2010
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Geographic Information Services Dedicated group within the
Department since 1986. Role: To provide a spatial data service to
support the business and activities of the Department and the wider
Agricultural Industry. Part of Business Services Division,
Information Services Branch. 13 permanent staff based in South
Perth + Contractors. 15 staff based across nine regional offices.
Software platform Intergraph GeoMedia. Major datasets stored in
Oracle Spatial format, also GeoMedia warehouse (MS Access).
Metadata maintained in Interragator+.
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Major Custodial Datasets Client Property Database. Current
extent of remnant vegetation. Pre-European vegetation.
Soil-landscape/land system mapping. Land Use.
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Client Property Database Landgate parcel data are the building
blocks. Stored in Oracle Spatial. Available to all Department staff
via intranet interface. Updated daily by GIS staff. Essential
service to support the biosecurity and regulatory operations of the
Department. Contact details restricted to Department use.
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Client Property Database
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Current Extent of Native Vegetation Vector dataset captured
using the best available aerial photo mosaics. Scale of capture in
the process of being upgraded from 1:100, 000 to 1:20, 000.
Distinguishes between native vegetation and plantations. Updated on
a regular basis. Intersected with pre-European vegetation to obtain
current extent by type dataset.
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Scale status Date status Current Extent of Native
Vegetation
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Pre-European Vegetation Comprehensive vegetation map of WA.
Scale of capture 1:250, 000 based on work of J.S. Beard. Compatible
with National Vegetation Information System. Last updated
2005.
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Soil-landscape/land system mapping Vector dataset captured from
mapping carried out by DAFWA Land Resource Assessment Group and
incorporating earlier mapping by CSIRO. Hierarchical system of
mapping. Database of some 60,000 soil profile observations.
Complete coverage of the agricultural area at subsystem/phase
level. Scale of mapping varies from 1:50, 000 on the coastal plain
to 1:250, 000 in the eastern wheatbelt. Comprehensive set of land
quality and land capability attribution. Rangeland land system and
Atlas of Australian Soils incorporated into a statewide dataset. WA
layer in the Australian Soil Resource Information System
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Soil-landscape mapping (cont.) Widely used for shire, regional
and local planning purposes. Major information source for reports
such as State of the Environment. Survey program complete but some
areas are undergoing upscaling, occasional updates. Available to
public via the SLIP NRM Info interface. Metadata maintained in
Interragator+ on a survey basis and also a generic metadata
statement for the complete dataset.
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Soil-landscape mapping
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Land Use First produced for National Land and Water Resources
Audit 2001. Property-based land use. 2006-Present project to map
land use at sub-property level on a sub-catchment basis using
aerial photo interpretation and limited field survey. Builds on
perennial horticulture survey 2002-2005 and datasets from DAFWA and
other agencies (reserves, current extent of native vegetation, town
planning schemes etc.). Land use classified according to Australian
Land Use and Management Classification V6. Data capture in progress
as funding permits.
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Land Use
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Other Projects/datasets BioSIRT National biosecurity incident
and surveillance data management system. Weed Watcher Web-based
portal for Australian Weeds Research Council. Climate mapping for
monthly Department Seasonal Outlook. Pastoral lease infrastructure
plans. Mapping and Spatial Analysis tasks in support of
Departmental activities eg. Agri-business precinct location study,
Drought reform pilot study, small landholder workshops, GM Canola
growers.